Normal Is Boring

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Ooops... I'm Sorry

First of all... wish you all a very Happy New Year! I'm sure almost everyone's head is spinning as fast as the days, months and years are flying. 2008??? What the hell! It's as if everyone was getting hysterical about the Y2K bug just two days ago and it's already 8 years past. In any case if I go on cribbing about the speed at which I'm growing old, that will be a pretty damn big book on its own and that is not the intention of this blog entry.

"Hey. What's up for the new year?" I got a call from a friend of mine who lives in Jersey. "Nothing special. Just planning to go to the temple". I said. "Not a bad idea. I think I will join you". This conversation lead me into planning to drive to my buddy's place sometime in the afternoon on the 31st. Then the idea was to go to the temple around midnight and drive back home the next year. Also, there was a plan to go and pick up the car, my friend recently bought, from the dealer.

"Any special plans? Want to join us for a private party for the new year?" I got another call. "Not really. planning to move into the new year with a peace of mind contemplating everything I haven't done this past year." I replied. 'mon, I was just kidding.

"When is your flight?" I asked another very good friend of mine. I knew her from Rutgers and she moved to Europe recently. She was visiting her family here and I definitely wanted to take this opportunity to see her off at least at the airport. "I'm flying on the 31st." She said. Here I go. Another addition to the plan. So now I decided to see her off at JFK and drive directly to my friend's place in Jersey.

"Going to the temple tonight?" Another pal and another call. "Yes". I reply. "You will cut across the city and pass Holland Tunnel right? Can you give me a ride to the temple? My girlfriend also wants to join us." This friend of mine lives in Jersey City and works in the big apple and his girlfriend both lives and works in Manhattan. So obviously neither of them own a car. It was not a big deal for me to give them a ride but I already made a commitment. Now I tried to do all the calculations to see how I can manage it all. It was not an easy task. Driving all the way to my first friend's house and driving back to pick the other and then go to the temple was a little too much to do. After breaking my head and burning a million calories, I decided to drive to the temple directly while I pickup my friend and his girlfriend on my way. My other buddy decided to meet me at the temple.

After all these complications and indecisive nature of mine, I made myself a flip-flop like Mr. Kerry during the '04 presidential elections. My friend who was supposed to meet me at the temple (whose house I was initially planning to go to) dropped the idea. As I couldn't (rather didn't) make it to his place, his new car spent the first day of the new year at the dealer's instead of it's loving new owner. Neither did I see my other friend off at the airport as I had to get my car inspection done and it took longer than expected. What can I do. I'm sorry. Sometimes things get really complicated. Or do I make them complicated?

Labels: 2008, complicated situation, flip flop, girlfriend, holland tunnel, indecisive, john kerry, manhattan, new jersey, new year, new year's eve, New York, private party, temple

posted by bachi 04:00 0 comments

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Thursday, September 6, 2007

Speed Limit 55

Question for you:

If you live in North East, did you ever drive "at" or "below" the posted speed limit when you had an opportunity to speed*?

To be honest with you, I never did. Actually... wait a minute. On second thoughts, I think I did but may be like 2 times in the one million times I have been behind the wheel on the road.

Now I'm so used to speeding that I feel funny when I see people driving slow. These are the stats from my recent cross-country road trip from NY to Portlnd, OR. It is basically where I was driving and how many cars passed me.

Getting out of NY : ~50%

NJ to Chi : 5% - 10%

Chi to WI : ~1%

WI to MN : ~1%

SD : 0

WY: 0

CO : 0

MT : 0

ID : 0

OR : <1%

It was impressive how people followed the speed limit in these places. In places like South Dakota and Wyoming you won't see another car on the road for miles and miles and still the very few that are, stick to 75 mph (the speed limit there). I couldn't understand how one could just let go the golden opportunity to step on the gas and not worry about getting cought for speeding untill I got pulled over. Luckily got away with a warning.

Isn't it funny that the un-written speed limit over here is usually 10 mph above the actual speed limit and everyone wants to drive at atleast 70 when they are "supposed" not to exceed 55? It is an underlynig assumption here that one is entitled to drive above the speed limit while there... I think it is a taboo!

* speeding = going above speed limit even if it is just 1 mph above the posted speed limit.

Labels: 55 mph, 75 mph, chicago, colorado, cross country, minnesota, new jersey, New York, oregon, pullover, road trip, south dakota, speed limit, speeding, ticket, traffic violation, wyoming

posted by bachi 21:45 1 comments

1 Comments:

At 04 October, 2007 17:14, Anonymous said…

hey, totally agree. I'm from San Francisco and we drive 15 above the speed limit as well. 10 is safe, 15 can get you pulled over.

I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a recap of your cross country trip over on SpongeFish. We're newly launched, and are the place where people go to share personal information, like... how to travel cross country in 8 days. You can do text and pics together.

We're having a contest if you submit by Oct. 12th - giving away 5 iPod Touches. Anyway, like your blog and drop me line at lbeatty@spongefish.com if you're interested. thanks!